[Scan-DC] License Plate Readers

[Bruce Harper]

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 9:52 AM, David wrote:

I'm all for technology and I guess it's kinda interesting/scary that one
> camera can do so much more than one patrol officer sitting at an
> intersection and writing down plate numbers, just in case the plate may
> come up again and be useful.
>

I'm curious about just how this all works. Is someone watching a monitor in
real time when alerted to a crime to see if a suspect vehicle passes
through an intersection? Or is the information just stored and searched
later to establish a time that a certain vehicle passed the camera? Plus,
how good are they? On one hand, we have the total fiction of TV, mainly CSI
shows and most Bellisario productions (NCIS et al), where someone types
rapidly on a keyboard while looking at a fuzzy picture of a car and they
are able to zoom in, enhance the image, and get a clear view of the license
plate -- all in an instant -- and then plug the number into the DMV and get
a full history on someone. On the other hand, it looks like the boot crews
on "Parking Wars" are using this technology to scan plates as they drive
around looking for ticket offenders -- with a pretty high rate of success
on the hits.

I'm also concerned about the "Big Brother" aspect of all of this, from the
government watching where people go and keeping track of that information.
Yeah, the system may catch the occasional criminal, but the information
could easily be used in other ways, from the government and businesses
tracking employees (some companies already track via a GPS in a company car
or truck) to an attorney getting the data to slam someone in a civil suit
or divorce ("you say you were at your office all day, yet this photo shows
your car passing through this intersection close to the No-Tell Motel. Were
you headed to a secret rendezvous with your mistress?"). The upside, if
there is one, was listed in the article, where the student researcher said
he could track where the police had traveled based on the camera data. This
could be used to show that someone is doing his job or is slacking off
based on travels on his beat.

Bruce in Blacksburg